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Nintendo FY14 Q1: 0.82M 3DS, 0.51M Wii U, MK8 2.82M shipped, 10 billion yen loss

I'll let you in on a sad truth: what you suggest seems to have already happened. The problem is that the managers he groomed for the individual teams haven't been doing a good job at leading their studios in the proper direction.

They haven't?

What leads you to say that?
 
Hopefully they can make a profit by the holidays. It's a shame they've messed up so much this gen they've released some amazing games. But it seems like all console manufacturers have been struggling to make profits recently.

Didn't Playstation just make a $172 million profit after the launch of the PS4?
 
I'll let you in on a sad truth: what you suggest seems to have already happened. The problem is that the managers he groomed for the individual teams haven't been doing a good job at leading their studios in the proper direction.

I'm aware of the fact that it's already happening. I don't actually think EAD's recent releases actually reflect the completion of this transition, though.
 
These aren't amazing numbers, but they're solid for Wii U. Was anyone honestly expecting better?

Improved numbers don't make numbers "Solid". They're still really, really bad even in a normal month, and this was the month of the release of what is easily their strongest title for the remainder of this generation. And it still only got them to 500k for 3 months worldwide.

These numbers essentially make it impossible for the Wii U to end it's like with 15 million as well.
 

numble

Member
Guys, one thing: going deeper in seeing the financial report, I saw what's probably the biggest component of this year's losses: foreign exchange.

In Q1 FY2013, they had 16,934 foreign exchange gains, with no losses. This resulted, together with other elements, in 20,269 for total non-operating income --> due to 526 of total non-operating losses, considering 4,924 of operating losses --> it resulted in 14,817 operating income.

In Q1 FY2014, instead, it certainly had bigger operating losses (9,470), but this also happened --> Only 4,897 non-operating income, with no foreign exchange income --> 5,392 non-operating losses, with 5,045 being foreign exchange losses --> all resulted in an ordinary loss of 9,964.

*numbers being millions of Yen.

Just a question: anyone with an idea of what actually happened here, why the change from exchange gains to losses?
You're doing calculations catastrophically wrong. The exchange gains in 2013 do not account into operating income.
 

Nekofrog

Banned
Can you imagine if NoA had true autonomy to have been able to identify market trends and reach out to notch re: minecraft and secure it onto their system early on?
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
You're doing calculations catastrophically wrong. The exchange gains in 2013 do not account into operating income.

Yeah, that's the ordinary income, not the operating one. I wrote it wrong, sorry :p
 
Rather than looking at Iwata specifically, I'd rather focus on several other factors:

- How much influence does Miyamoto have in Nintendo EAD in regards to driving the direction of development? It cannot be stated enough just how badly he dropped the ball in regards of managing the development of launch titles for the 3DS and the Wii U. At this point, I'd be comfortable if he delegates more autonomy on lower level management and just putting his stamp of approval on what they put out. Maybe only checking every so often to make certain that a game isn't fundamentally flawed.
As awesome as Miyamoto is, I've felt for a number of years that he's part of the current problem at Nintendo...without any proof, of course. I see him as a bit of a dinosaur. Gaming has changed a lot but I get the impression that he still has the final say-so, and if it doesn't fly with him, then it's not going ahead.
 

Game Guru

Member
Honestly, to know that, we'd need to see how PC + mobile stack up cumulatively against the entire console umbrella. That's not to say that I doubt that PC and mobile have swelled due to migration away from conosles - PC and mobile gaming are now much cheaper than console gaming for what seems like the first time - but I'd be curious to see how much of it is actual cannibalization.

True... it is hard to separate game-oriented sales for PC and Mobile from sales relating to the other functions that PC and Mobile, but it is also hard to deny that the most recent true system seller, Minecraft, is a PC & Mobile indie game which just resonated with a huge audience that just happened to have been ported to 360 and PS3. Then you've got the F2P games that have populated both PC & Mobile which are free for the majority of people who play them. Then you've got the indie movement on PC & Mobile which are bringing back genres which had become niche. That's the current state of PC and Mobile gaming and one that has both cheap prices and sheer variety going for both.
 

watershed

Banned
Can you imagine if NoA had true autonomy to have been able to identify market trends and reach out to notch re: minecraft and secure it onto their system early on?

Are you sure you know what you're talking about? Do you have evidence of Nintendo to back up your claim that NCL is stopping NOA from recruiting 3rd party games or acting on market trends?
 

Nekofrog

Banned
Are you sure you know what you're talking about? Do you have evidence of Nintendo to back up your claim that NCL is stopping NOA from recruiting 3rd party games or acting on market trends?

wat

it's a well known fact that modern day NOA has no power whatsoever within its own region

back in the 90s? they were knocking shiz out of the park.
 

watershed

Banned
wat

it's a well known fact that modern day NOA has no power whatsoever within its own region

back in the 90s? they were knocking shiz out of the park.

Its possible NOA could be doing more things to improve Nintendo's bottom line. It's possible NCL is hampering NOA in some ways. But all you've stated is your opinion based on "a well known fact", you mentioned Minecraft as if it was evidence of what you say, but seemingly it's not. Back in the 90s Nintendo systems were home to most/nearly all popular 3rd party games. So maybe you felt like NOA was doing a great job then. But the industry has changed in ways that have very little to do with NOA.
 
As awesome as Miyamoto is, I've felt for a number of years that he's part of the current problem at Nintendo...without any proof, of course. I see him as a bit of a dinosaur. Gaming has changed a lot but I get the impression that he still has the final say-so, and if it doesn't fly with him, then it's not going ahead.

Miyamoto's only flaw, imo, is him enforcing Wind Waker on Gamecube. The radical turn around back to Twilight Princess was hilarious.

Otherwise, he still makes fun games - dinosaurs still have that wisdom when it comes to making a game fun. He'll be directing the games that both kids and adults (who give games with an cartoonish look a chance) love to play, and that's what counts. This is incredibly hard to see because us adults forget pretty quickly the games we loved to play back then
 

Instro

Member
Miyamoto's only flaw, imo, is him enforcing Wind Waker on Gamecube. The radical turn around back to Twilight Princess was hilarious.

Otherwise, he still makes fun games - dinosaurs still have that wisdom when it comes to making a game fun. He'll be directing the games that both kids and adults (who give games with an cartoonish look a chance) love to play, and that's what counts. This is incredibly hard to see because us adults forget pretty quickly the games we loved to play back then

Miyamoto hasn't directed a game in like 20 years.
 

Nekofrog

Banned
Its possible NOA could be doing more things to improve Nintendo's bottom line. It's possible NCL is hampering NOA in some ways. But all you've stated is your opinion based on "a well known fact", you mentioned Minecraft as if it was evidence of what you say, but seemingly it's not. Back in the 90s Nintendo systems were home to most/nearly all popular 3rd party games. So maybe you felt like NOA was doing a great job then. But the industry has changed in ways that have very little to do with NOA.

wat part 2

Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa were a powerhouse in NoA throughout the 90s, resulting in the best western support Nintendo has ever seen (or will ever see again).

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=51985872&postcount=106

See this post for more information.
 
I updated these charts

ibj9FevdrWqbPe.png


ibl2sbZnVcifRV.png


numbers from here

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/xls/consolidated_sales_e1406.xls

Code:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|    Region    |     GB      |    GBA     |     NDS     |    3DS     |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Japan        | 32,470,000  | 16,960,000 | 32,990,000  | 16,150,000 |
| The Americas | 44,060,000  | 41,640,000 | 59,930,000  | 14,830,000 |
| Other        | 42,160,000  | 22,910,000 | 61,070,000  | 13,160,000 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Total        | 118,690,000 | 81,510,000 | 153,990,000 | 44,140,000 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Code:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    Region    |    NES     |    SNES    |    N64     |    NGC     |     WII     |    WIU    |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Japan        | 19,350,000 | 17,170,000 | 5,540,000  | 4,040,000  | 12,750,000  | 1,870,000 |
| The Americas | 34,000,000 | 23,350,000 | 20,630,000 | 12,940,000 | 48,500,000  | 3,080,000 |
[B]| Other        | 8,560,000  | 8,580,000  | 6,750,000  | 4,770,000  | 39,900,000  | 1,730,000 |[/B]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Total        | 61,910,000 | 49,100,000 | 32,920,000 | 21,750,000 | 101,150,000 | 6,680,000 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notice how high Wii PAL sales compared to other Nintendo consoles.
 

Hiltz

Member
Even though Miyamoto stepped down as General EAD producer, his influence, input and control remain quite strong in Nintendo's overall development environment. This isn't just for Nintendo 1st party internal teams, but also external ones such as with Retro Studios as well as 2nd party projects like Luigi's Mansion 2 by Next Level Games.
 

Shion

Member
Miyamoto's only flaw, imo, is him enforcing Wind Waker on Gamecube. The radical turn around back to Twilight Princess was hilarious.

Otherwise, he still makes fun games - dinosaurs still have that wisdom when it comes to making a game fun. He'll be directing the games that both kids and adults (who give games with an cartoonish look a chance) love to play, and that's what counts. This is incredibly hard to see because us adults forget pretty quickly the games we loved to play back then

Maybe.

But dinosaurs who are good at designing fun games should have their own little studio and the freedom to design the kind of games they're good at. They shouldn't be able to dictate a company's strategic vision and they most certainly shouldn't be in charge of a company's largest software division.
 
As awesome as Miyamoto is, I've felt for a number of years that he's part of the current problem at Nintendo...without any proof, of course. I see him as a bit of a dinosaur. Gaming has changed a lot but I get the impression that he still has the final say-so, and if it doesn't fly with him, then it's not going ahead.

My primary problem with Miyamoto as a manager is that he is too much of a perfectionist. He wants a game to be continuously tweaked until during development right up to the point of release, so that the game is extraordinarily polished when it comes out. However, that sort of behavior is becoming more and more costly as games are becoming more and more complex. It's simply not possible to expect a game to come out on time when requirements keep changing. That's why I want Miyamoto to have less influence on development, as his details oriented feedback no longer works for larger projects.

I'm perfectly fine with Miyamoto getting involved in smaller scale projects though.

EDIT: One thing that I forgot to mention: Miyamoto also guides development towards the type of games that he prefers. This is not necessarily a big problem in itself, but that in conjunction with the previous issue means that people might be spending weeks creating something that might not actually appeal to a large audience.
 
Maybe.

But dinosaurs who are good at designing fun games should have their own little studio and the freedom to design the kind of games they're good at. They shouldn't be able to dictate a company's strategic vision and they most certainly shouldn't be in charge of a company's largest software division.

The problem with Miyamoto is that he views games as toys. As toys, they revolve directly and exclusively around the mechanic. This is what Nintendo has always been really good at: fun mechanics. But games have changed and evolved in a lot of ways and it's not JUST about the mechanics anymore.

The days of Donkey Kong Land as a statement against "fancy graphics" are over. Games like Paper Mario should not have their stories excised. Characters as blank slates for the player to project into are not as simple as having a white male in a distinctive wardrobe anymore. People don't only have one console hooked up to their living room television - people play alone in their bedrooms too. All these philosophies and ideas are stuck in the 80s. Games are not just toys anymore - video Bop-Its - they're experiences.
 

balohna

Member
Improved numbers don't make numbers "Solid". They're still really, really bad even in a normal month, and this was the month of the release of what is easily their strongest title for the remainder of this generation. And it still only got them to 500k for 3 months worldwide.

These numbers essentially make it impossible for the Wii U to end it's like with 15 million as well.

They've improved pretty dramatically though. It would have taken a miracle for them to be any better than this.
 
They've improved pretty dramatically though. It would have taken a miracle for them to be any better than this.

In absolute terms, these numbers are really bad.

You're saying that these numbers were the best that Nintendo could've realistically achieved. It would take a miracle to do better than really bad numbers.

Doesn't that just highlight just how much of a hole Nintendo is in right now?
 

watershed

Banned
wat part 2

Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa were a powerhouse in NoA throughout the 90s, resulting in the best western support Nintendo has ever seen (or will ever see again).

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=51985872&postcount=106

See this post for more information.

NoA doesn't make games anymore, true. But Nintendo lost western 3rd party support for a whole host of reasons, just as they are in this current situation for a whole host of reasons. As I said, there was a time when Nintendo consoles were where money was made. But this is a 3 console market now, not to mention a possibly contracting global market.

I don't see a direct connection between the state of NoA today and the state of Nintendo's profits today.
 
With Mario Kart numbers keeping the WiiU alive, I wonder if Nintendo can squeak through this entire generation with spacing out their big 1st party games.

Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Zelda, Mario all spread out in 4 years.

This can save Nintendo.
 
What? The holiday lineups for XB1 and especially PS4 are very ... mediocre.

No one will deny that MK8 will sell very well this holiday? Smash Bros will moving hardware. Bayonetta 1+2 and Hyrule Warriors will not move move tons of hardware but they will do their thing to support the big sales generated by MK8 and Smash Bros.

This is beyond delusional. AssCreed, Destiny, CoD completely dwarfs Nintendo's lineup this holiday. Your taking your own personal bias and projecting it on sales, which makes no sense.
 

Miles X

Member
With Mario Kart numbers keeping the WiiU alive, I wonder if Nintendo can squeak through this entire generation with spacing out their big 1st party games.

Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Zelda, Mario all spread out in 4 years.

This can save Nintendo.

No it can't, not that Nintendo needs saving, but if it did that wouldn't work. The shipments are still absolutely awful, and MK is among the biggest, Zelda and Mario (as we've seen) do not come close to MK purchasing power.
 
MK8 numbers show what we already know. The fact that most nintendo gamers only buy the platform for nintendo games; as well as the fact that those games aren't bringing in new consumers. I would be worried if I was nintendo.
 

Nekofrog

Banned
NoA doesn't make games anymore, true. But Nintendo lost western 3rd party support for a whole host of reasons, just as they are in this current situation for a whole host of reasons. As I said, there was a time when Nintendo consoles were where money was made. But this is a 3 console market now, not to mention a possibly contracting global market.

I don't see a direct connection between the state of NoA today and the state of Nintendo's profits today.

if noa was allowed to operate independently of japanese oversight, we it's possible we would have had a proper and timely version of minecraft, a game which is perfectly suited for nintendo's core audience.

it really is a huge deal that noa is not allowed to do even the simplest of tasks without approval from a dude high up in japan, who really doesn't care about much outside of japan.

to say that noa's subservience has little to do with their profits is astounding
 

M3d10n

Member
if noa was allowed to operate independently of japanese oversight, we it's possible we would have had a proper and timely version of minecraft, a game which is perfectly suited for nintendo's core audience.

it really is a huge deal that noa is not allowed to do even the simplest of tasks without approval from a dude high up in japan, who really doesn't care about much outside of japan.

to say that noa's subservience has little to do with their profits is astounding

Nintendo not pursuing a version of Minecraft for the Wii U is insane and shows how out of touch they are. It's a massive success among kids and the crafting mechanic would be a perfect showcase for the GamePad. The retail version has entrenched itself into the top 10 in both the US and Europe for months, but since it doesn't sell in Japan and didn't come from the likes of Activision or Ubisoft, they completely ignore it.
 

Log4Girlz

Member
Nintendo not pursuing a version of Minecraft for the Wii U is insane and shows how out of touch they are. It's a massive success among kids and the crafting mechanic would be a perfect showcase for the GamePad. The retail version has entrenched itself into the top 10 in both the US and Europe for months, but since it doesn't sell in Japan and didn't come from the likes of Activision or Ubisoft, they completely ignore it.

Well at least we got wonderful 101
 
if noa was allowed to operate independently of japanese oversight, we it's possible we would have had a proper and timely version of minecraft, a game which is perfectly suited for nintendo's core audience.

it really is a huge deal that noa is not allowed to do even the simplest of tasks without approval from a dude high up in japan, who really doesn't care about much outside of japan.

to say that noa's subservience has little to do with their profits is astounding

I agree; but wouldn't that require a whole sale change in philosophy with nintendo? IMO Nintendo is the most conservative video gaming company in existence there isn't much change at the top and people are in positions which; lets be honest here they shouldn't be in any longer ( Iwata, miyamoto). We saw how quick sony got rid of the "father" of the PlayStation and how Microsoft changed quickly firing mattrick after the xone disstair. I'm not sure if the changes needed for nintendo to make are able to be made by the people with the power to make them; even now we see this with the new QOL coming up in another attempt to recapture the blue ocean audience which has long since dried up.
 

watershed

Banned
if noa was allowed to operate independently of japanese oversight, we it's possible we would have had a proper and timely version of minecraft, a game which is perfectly suited for nintendo's core audience.

it really is a huge deal that noa is not allowed to do even the simplest of tasks without approval from a dude high up in japan, who really doesn't care about much outside of japan.

to say that noa's subservience has little to do with their profits is astounding

Statements like these need proof or else all you've done is use a bunch of silly language. Yes, Iwata is head of NoA but it's silly to say that he doesn't care about much outside of Japan. North America is the largest videogame market, the Wii and DS did incredibly well here. Just because Nintendo systems are struggling in NA this gen doesn't mean Nintendo/Iwata "doesn't care about much outside of Japan". That comment makes no sense. It's less silly to say that Nintendo has a Japan-centric hardware and software philosophy. This statement has the benefit of being both reasonable and accurate.

In fact I think Iwata recently made himself head of NoA so that he could better oversea their business and operation in North America.
 

Nekofrog

Banned
Statements like these need proof or else all you've done is use a bunch of silly language. Yes, Iwata is head of NoA but it's silly to say that he doesn't care about much outside of Japan. North America is the largest videogame market, the Wii and DS did incredibly well here. Just because Nintendo systems are struggling in NA this gen doesn't mean Nintendo/Iwata "doesn't care about much outside of Japan". That comment makes no sense. It's less silly to say that Nintendo has a Japan-centric hardware and software philosophy. This statement has the benefit of being both reasonable and accurate.

In fact I think Iwata recently made himself head of NoA so that he could better oversea their business and operation in North America.

it's an observation. people are able to make observations based on company history, market trends, and financial reports

i'm right. if you have a response other than "you are just saying words" then please feel free, make your arguments
 
so the bad news is that the 3ds is doing about half of what it was doing a year ago and it's in a very real decline.

the really bad news is that they're already in the hole $100m when they've forecast $200m as a profit for the year.

the really really bad news is that despite being up about 200%, wii u hardware sales and software sales are pitifully low (mario kart 8 makes up for 64% of all wii u software sales in this period), but we already knew that.

and the worst news of all is that nintendo didn't have a press conference at e3 this year, which is probably why the company is in such a sorry state.

I agree with your post, and i expect Nintendo's next handheld to do even worse numbers, that market is rapidly declining/getting eaten by smartphone gaming and such.
 

balohna

Member
In absolute terms, these numbers are really bad.

You're saying that these numbers were the best that Nintendo could've realistically achieved. It would take a miracle to do better than really bad numbers.

Doesn't that just highlight just how much of a hole Nintendo is in right now?

It's a shallower hole now? I'm not trying to say they're doing well. I just don't get the level of surprise in this thread, or the "even Mario Kart can't save Nintendo" comments, as if one game was going to turn around the Wii U's fortunes in a single month. The 3DS fall off is probably the biggest story here.
 
What is there to "huh" about, he's completely right.

(Except he forgot FIFA)

Yes forgot FIFA. And dumbfounding that an EA Sports title isn't coming to a major released console today.

The fact that the convo is moving back and forth between a discussion of the quality of the game rather than sales potential.

I was strictly talking about sales. I have Smash Bros preordred and not buying any of the titles mentioned but let's be honest. Wii U is as niche as niche can get and is not competing with that lineup in anyway
 
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